Sub Pop's Bruce Pavitt talks Experiencing Nirvana

The pictures in the book are remarkably intimate and capture a real innocence about the bands and the period. Had you looked at the shots a lot over the years?

“You know, I kind of stepped away from it all, particularly after Kurt’s passing. It took me a while to revisit that period and look at those pictures, longer than I thought it would, actually. I was aware of the collection, but they pretty much stayed in the attic for a long time. It was only in the past few years that I decided to flip through the images. I was particularly taken with the cover photo of Kurt at the Coliseum. It’s such an iconic, powerful image. I started to look through the other photos, and I thought, ‘There’s a story here.’

“It was a special time, that tour. Seeing the bands play in a different country ever night, pretty much, was thrilling. To see the consistently positive response from the different cultures was really empowering.”